2009 Christmas Blog -A year of Firsts

As the two loyal subscribers to "Blogging with the Smiths" know, 2009 was not a year for blogging. So here is a year in review for 2009. It seems like the past year was a year of firsts for our family in many different ways. I hope you enjoy a brief insight to our year and hope yours was as memorable as ours. Feel free to leave a comment. I bet Kim we could get at least 5 different people to leave a comment.

A neat experience we did in February was go to the ice caves off of Cornucopia in northwest Wisconsin. These caves are very popular during the summer months for kayakers, but for a limited time during the winter people can travel to the caves across the ice by foot or cross-country skis. We had a great time that day. The caves were really fun to explore and we met some nice people.



Will and Ilee were introduced to another first last winter, tennis. Arrowhead Tennis Center offered group lessons for kids on Saturdays. They had fun hitting the ball around each Saturday. Kim was able to take some lessons at the same time with other parents. The kids had a good time and continued with lessons at the beginning of the summer. Too early to tell if they will be in the Olympics in 2020.


Ilee continued with her dance class throughout the year with the big dance recital in June. We were pleasantly surprised the recital was less then 3 hours and actually went very fast. Her group's costume was Tinker Bell-esque. Ilee was a Dancing Queen.





The K & K fun factory (Kim and Kyle) ran Grandma's half-marathon. We were happy with our times considering our training and the hot temps (yes it actually got hot in Duluth). This was a first that we ran together the whole race.


Moving into summer the kids played T-ball. Will decided to give the T one more season and it was Ilee's first. The nice thing is they were on the same team (love that!!) We saw great improvement in both kids over the two month, twice a week season. Not too many times did we have to stop them from building sand castles in the infield.


After T-ball ended the kids went right into soccer. The best part was they were both again on the same team. They had a lot of their fellow players from last year's teams. It was a fun season with both kids looking forward to next summer. Unfortunately they will be on separate team
(we're being selfish). We'll see if Coach Kyle can handle two teams again.

Other highlights over the summer:
The kids and Kyle went camping a few times through out the summer. Their favorite place is to go to Fish Lake just North of Duluth (25 minutes) and camp on Bianchi Island. We had some great times fishing, sitting by the camp fire and cooking up s'mores. Will caught his first fish trolling!!

One of the biggest firsts of the year was a trip to Vegas. Kim surprised me with a trip to Vegas for my 40th birthday, which was in Oct. Kim had an accomplice, our friend Shonda, who helped plan the trip because she and her husband Mike, who turned 40 this past December were going. Both Mike and I had no idea our wives had planned this great trip. We had an awesome time. Those who have been to Vegas know how big and fancy all the casinos are to walk through. We took a day trip out to Hoover Dam, which was very cool. Mike and I got to play golf one morning. It was a lot of fun , even though we ended up at the wrong course. Mike and I got to play with a local, Roosevelt Toston, who showed us where to try and hit.


While it wasn't a first, we did get down to the MN State Fair after a 3 year absences. We were able to spend the day with our good friends the Erickson. A highlight was watching the kids in the butterfly house. Another hit was the big slide!!!

We had a great ending to summer on the professional sand volleyball circuit. After about 13 years of competition, Gables and Ivy final won the whole thing. "We are the CHAMPIONS!!!" Dry fits next year.



With fall comes the first day of school. Ilee was now in kindergarten and Will is in 2nd grade. Both are enjoying time at Lowell Elementary School.

Will began another first in the fall, piano. He has been going strong for 4 months and is enjoying it check him out with his first recital.

Christmas Card 2.0

Welcome to "Blogging with the Smiths". If you are not one of my 3 faithful subscribers then you probably found your way here by way of our Christmas card. If you are wondering about our card last year, well they were never sent out. Kim vetoed sending them in March like I did a few years ago, especially since they were the kids playing in the snow, but now that I think about it we had snow in April here so it shouldn't have mattered. This years picture was taken at my parents house at Thanksgiving. The "Maroon Out" shirt is a Texas A&M tradition for the big against Texas. Kristi has now included all family members in the tradition. We were just happy that Will would actually wear his shirt this year. If you so choose, you can subscribe to this blog. The description of the blog used to say that there would be weekly updates, but that just wasn't happening. The goal for 2009 will be a couple of updates a month. Hope you enjoy.

D-day in October

At the end of October our family went to Disney along with Kim's mom and family friend Steve. We had been planning this trip since last Spring. Last year Kim stumbled across a website which is an unofficial Disney discussion board. It is here that she began planning our trip. On the DIS board there is the DIS unplugged podcast that is aired each week. As the months leading up to our vacation Kim began planning our trip. Those who planned the actual D-Day invasion would have been very impressed for her organization skills and contingency plans. If you are thinking of taking a trip to Disney in the next year let Kim know and she would be happy to offer any suggestion or even generate an itinerary. I would appreciate this because it might placate her desire to return if she can at least plan another trip for someone else.

Everything in Florida worked out perfect. The only thing that could have been improved was the weather. Thankfully it did not rain, but on some days it was pretty cold, even for Minnesota folks. Our good friend David M., who is going to school in Tallahassee came and stayed with us for a few days. It is always a treat to see David. This time was an extra treat because he had never been to Disney World. Beside seeing David get so excited going into the different parks, another fun thing we did with him was to ride Segways at Epcot. We got there at 8:00 and did an hour of training then got to ride in the park for an hour before it opened. That morning was freezing!!!!! Very cold and winding. Even David who lives in Florida said it was cold. See pics and videos





We attended the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party at Magic Kingdom. Maybe the cold weather had something to do with it, but Kim and I both thought it was over-hyped and over priced. Wait, it is Disney everything is overpriced!!! OK over-hyped. Will went as a dog and Ilee as a Princess. The picture of Will with other dogs was at Downtown Disney on Halloween. The other dogs in the picture are Lego's!!!




As I said before, Kim's planning was excellent. We used our fast passes to perfection. Some of the highlight rides for us were the safari, Mt Everest and Lion King at Animal Kingdom. The kids road their first roller coaster at Magic Kingdom which was the Barn Stormer. They did graduate to Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster. That is the two thumbs up they are giving in the pictures. Epcot was a lot of fun also. The favorite rides were Soarin' and the Test Track. Enjoy the pics.

Burrito Union

The second weekend of September there was an event called the Burrito Union 10 triathlon. The race was held at Pattison State Park just south of Superior. Cadesdad, his wife and I form team "It Looks Like a Deer" Instead of summarizing what a great day we had, I have listed what Cadesdad wrote up which includes pictures and a video. His site blows mine away.

http://www.thecorrigans.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/35-Burrito-Union-10-hr-Triathlon.html

Ok. Here is my perspective for the day. I haven't read what Cadesdad said in a while so I might repeat a little. We loaded up Cadesdad's Subaru with two bikes on top and mine in the back. First thing first, Shawn needed some coffee. We tried a place in Duluth, but it was closed. Then we tried the Red Mug in Superior. That was closed also, but some of it workers were heading out with a a box of supplies. I think Cadesdad joked that it would be funny if they were heading to the race. We ended up getting our coffee at Big Apple Bagel which took forever it seemed.

We got out to Pattison Park with plenty of time. We set up the tent and got our gear ready to go. The decision was made the night before that Shawn would do the swimming and Cadesdad and I would trade off between the ride and run. The first round Shawn was great in the water. She did mentioned the water was cold and did not feel like the 68 degrees they said it was. Cadesdad was very bundled up for the 14 mile bike ride. I thought he seemed a little over dressed, but he didn't think so. When he got back he was dripping wet and realized was wearing to many layers. The 3 mile run was in the woods and was very scenic. As the day continued Cadesdad and I kept rotating. After the third swim for Shawn, she said she was too cold and had to do something else. She ended up doing the run and Brian did the swim. As I rode the bike leg I kept thinking that I would have to get in the water next. Anyone who knows me, knows I am an awful swimmer. When I arrived back to tag off to Shawn, Cadesdad was still wearing his wet suit. He said that he did not mind swimming again if I didn't mind riding again. At this point I did not know if he was telling the truth or knew that I didn't want swim. After several exchanges of "Are you sure?", it was decided that he would swim and I would ride. As for the ride, it was bad going out but coming back it was a long upgrade finishing off with a steep incline. The weather had been good for most of the day. I did get sprinkled on a few times on the bike until the last round. I now have learned that I can now ride in pouring rain. At the time it was miserable. When I got back to tag off I climbed into the hot tub clothes and all in order to warm up. I think it even hailed a little as Cadesdad finished the last lap. All in all I thin we completed 6 triathlons and finished somewhere in the middle. I think the Burrito Union will become an annual event for team "It Looks Like a Deer". Who knows, maybe next year I will get in the water. It certainly was fun hanging out with Cadesdad and Shawn.

Still catching up.

Just when I thought I was on the blogwagon I fell off. I need to get in a few more updates because our Christmas cards will be going out soon and the traffic on the blog site will really pick up. I might be a little too optimistic.

Random update
In September, Will entered 1st grade and Ilee continued with pre-school at Kinder Corner with Mrs. Peller. As we did with Will, we decide to have Ilee repeat pre-school again. She, like Will, has a summer birthday. (see previous birthday posts).

Adios Champ

In August we got another foster dog from RAGOM. His name was Champ. Champ was good dog. He did need to have surgery on both his hips. We kept Champ for about two weeks while an appointment could be set up in the Twin Cities for the surgery. If you are looking for a dog, especially a golden retriever check out the RAGOM website. A date was set for Champ to be taken in Twin Cities. The plan was to take Champ down in the morning and then go to the State Fair. We made it to Cities and dropped off Champ. Fostering dogs can be rewarding, but giving them up is always the hard part.

The weather that day was questionable for a day at the fair. in fact it was pouring in the morning. We made a decision to not go the the State Fair, but to the Mall of America. We had fun time. The kids had fun riding some of the rides. Will rode his first roller coaster. This was training for our fall trip to Walt Disney's World. This posting not only includes a montage of pictures, but hopefully my first posting in youtube.

Soc-it-to-me-coach

In August, both Will and Ilee played soccer. This was Will's 3rd season playing and Ilee's first. Will moved up to U8 league. In this league they play with 6 players on each side with one being a goalie. In the U6 league which Ilee played in, they have 4 players on each side and no goalie. Their field is smaller than the U8. Keeping the coaching tradition alive I was the coach for both. I had coached Will's team the first two years. Our week for the month of August was practice on Sundays. Ilee had games on Mondays and Wednesdays and Will had games on Tuesdays. His season went through September. Both kids had a fun season (so did the coach). It seemed the soccer camp at the beginning of the summer paid off, especially for Ilee. Ilee finally learned by the end of the season that she was not suppose to throw the ball into herself. You can see from the pictures that she needed a little restraint.